Changing the Rules
by AlwaysShan
Summary: Heartbroken and distraught, Mcgonagall leaves for London after breaking off her engagement. The next day, she emerges in a remote location of England, nearly a thousand years in the past, with no memories of the last 3 months. She must persevere to figure out why she choose to come here, and what she must do to get back. Pairings not yet decided! Through Time Challenge!


**A/N: Hello lovelies, I'm back with another one! I was exploring some challenges and I happened upon the Through Time Challenge by SnarkyAndProudHufflepuff** , **and I thought I would try my hand at it. Let me know what you guys think!**

Chapter 1

It was a cool, crisp September morning. The wind blew through her hair and tickled her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. She was in a valley, where the blossoms from summer were still hanging on, but they had no more than a few weeks left before retreating once more into the earth, with hopes to survive what would probably be another harsh winter. For now though, the flowers will coloured the green of the grass with their yellows, reds and purples, making it look like something out of a painting. The valley was surrounded by hills not quite large enough to be mountains, but large enough to make it so she could see nothing beyond them. She did not know where she was, and she was scared.

Desperately, she tried to remember how she got here, the last thing she could remember was graduating from Hogwarts, and going home to spend one last summer with her family. But from the temperature, and the blossoms, summer had clearly passed. She had to be missing three months in her memory, and she imagined those three months were vital in figuring out where she was, and how she had gotten here. She grasped at her wand and performed all the charms she knew to help with recovering memory, but to no avail. Someone must had cursed her, or Obliviated her, and whoever it was, they had done a thorough job.

She started casting location charms, in an attempt to figure out her position. Her wand's results were all over the place, making her wonder if she was casting them wrong, or if something very sinister had happened. The best she could gather was she was somewhere in England. She was very clearly in the countryside, seeing how quiet and unpopulated in was, but she did not know of anywhere that was **this** unpopulated, this should at least be farmland. She did not dare Apparate, knowing so little about where she was, so she started to walk. She hoped she would find food and water eventually, because without it, she would perish, never knowing what had happened.

With no knowledge of where she was, she started towards the tallest of the hills, hoping it would provide her with some more knowledge of the landscape, and what was around. She transfigured her shoes into hiking boots, hoping it would help with all the walking she would no doubt be doing. The hill was steep, and by the halfway point she was regretting not going for one of the smaller ones, but still she persisted. Sweat was beginning to form on her brow, and her legs were beginning to ache, but she was a fighter. _Almost there, just a little bit further_ she chanted to herself, begging her aching body to go forward.

Finally, she mad it to the top, and she looked out in all the directions, trying to find some form of food, or civilization. There was nothing. Defeated, she sighed and ran her hands through her hand, trying to think of what to do now. All this walking was draining her strength, and she had nothing to fuel herself with. If she kept going at this pace, she would wither away sooner, but if she stayed here, she would still wither away. She looked all around her, at the other valleys, and plains, trying to think of a way to go. If she choose wrong, she would likely die. She transfigured a nearby flower into a pair of binoculars, hoping her improved eyesight may help her see something. She looked for anything edible, any plants that may help her survive. The problem was many of these flowers looked foreign to her, similar to the ones she knew of back home, or studied in Hogwarts, but different somehow.

A crack! startled her out of her train of thought, she spun around, searching for what made the noise, until her eyes landed on a man. He looked about ten years older than her, but if he was a wizard, he could have just aged very well, or it could be a glamour. He had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders, and was wearing a long tunic. His face seemed puzzled as he stared back at her. She was not sure whether she should be worried, or relieved at finding someone else out here. Without his appearance, she may have starved, but she still did not know he meant well by her. She also knew that though she was a formidable witch, he had the advantage or more experience, if his age was anything to go by.

"Well now, I know what the orb said, but I really didn't think you would actually show up. I almost came out here just to prove it wrong, but here you are! My goodness, if it was right about that, it must have been correct about other things. Your clothes certainly point to that being the case. If I had believed it, I might have had the time to prepare for you, but no, I just had to doubt it. Honestly, I need to stop doing that, it's going to get me into trouble someday. Maybe that day is today! Well, I guess no time like the present to find out." He appeared to be muttering to himself, as he walked around her, appearing to examine her. Though he amused her, he was beginning to make her very uncomfortable.

"I don't mean to interrupt…" She started, not exactly knowing what to say to him.

"Ah! Yes! Where are my manners? You will of course be so confused currently, so very confused! Is it true your memory is gone? You remember nothing?" He pondered, almost looking right through her.

"I'm not sure how I got here - yes." She answered, trying to give as little away as possible, seeing s she knew nothing of this man.

"Well that was a half answer at best, why is it you would be dodging my questions? Ah, right, you've only just met me, of course you wouldn't trust me! Well, how about you ask your questions, then I'll ask mine, does that sound fair? It may encourage you to trust me a bit more, I realize you must be terribly confused about the whole thing." He smile encouragingly at her, even when he was talking to her it seemed like he was talking to himself. "Go on, ask away my dear!"

"Who exactly are you?"

"Exactly? Well if I were to answer that I would have to tell you everything about me that made me, well, me! And then I fear we would be here forever, so I do hope you'll forgive me if I shorten my answer a bit. My name is Merlin Garrowsson, father being -"

"Did you just said Merlin?" She exclaimed, as far as she knew, there had only ever been one Merlin, no one daring to name their child that name for fear they would never live up to it, which meant he was likely THE Merlin.

"Why yes, my dear. If my name is ringing a bell to you, I had a feeling you must know more about me than I originally thought. I know the orb said you would know me, but we are so many years apart, I doubt I would trigger that sort of a reaction, how peculiar! I don't turn bad now, do I?" He smiled hopefully at her, still seemingly wrapped up in his own internal dialogue. "Oh dear, I was supposed to be answering, not questioning, terribly rude of me, my dear, do carry on."

"What year were you born?" Thankfully she remembered all of her dates from school, which means that if he said the date she was thinking of, he would either be the real Merlin, or someone was playing an awfully well organized and thought out trick on her. She wasn't sure which one she was hoping that it would be.

"I was born exactly in the year 1000! My mother always marvelled over that fact, saying it was of some significance and that I would be so special, ignoring of course that there were other people, some of whom muggles and some not, that were also born in that year." He smiled at her and she felt her knees start to give out on her, collapsing slightly under the weight of what he just told her. If he was Merlin, she was almost a millennia back in history. And she didn't even remember how she got here!

"How?" She chocked out, giving into the flood of emotion. What if she never got back? What if she spent the rest of her life here? What about her parents? What about the ministry? What about her friends?

"That, I am not sure of, my dear. The orb tells just enough for me to have some guesses, but it would never be so helpful as to just tell me. What I do know is that you have come here for a reason, that it was you who chose to come here, and that eventually, your memories will come back, but you have to work for them. If you let this all get the better of you, this will all be for nothing. This is strong and dangerous magic you have set loose, and you must conquer it, or it will consume you. May I ask of you your name, my dear?"

"Minerva Mcgonagall." She replied, taking in all of what he was said to her.

"Well now, Minerva, it's starting to get cold, do you trust me enough to Apparate us to the warmth and safety of my home? This is not where you want to be when the night falls."

She nodded, whether it was true enough, she was going to have to trust this man. Maybe he would kidnap and enslave her, or maybe he would help her. Either way, he was a safer bet than the cold English night.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Reviews are always appreciated!**

 **Always,**

 **Shan**


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